Mr. 2006 - A Comparison of Magazines Aimed at Today's Males

These days we are living in a world where G.Q and Esquire depict men as being ultra stylish and subtly scruffy in a carefully sculpted way while displaying endless advertisements for such high-end brands as Armani, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana. These are both aspects of these magazines that could go hand in hand because what better way to advertise expensive clothing than in a magazine filled with layouts of men dressed in expensive clothing? Alas, ladies and gentleman, we are living in the day and age of the more recently coined term "metrosexual".

Flipping through the pages of G.Q. and Esquire seemed very monotonous because page after page I was presented with the same things over and over again. From the designer clothing ads, the vodka ads, and the car ads to the pictures of scantily clad women to the fashion spreads featuring countless numbers of suits, everything just seemed so redundant. Is this what it means to be masculine in 2006? Apparently it is. It seems that these types of men's magazines are geared towards shaping the male specimen into Frank Sinatras as opposed to James Deans. These days, men are preferred to be dapper in well-pressed suits and coincidently this month's G.Q. featuring Brad Pitt on the cover just so happens to feature an entire page documenting how to properly take care of your suit.

This message that the magazine conveys, though, seems to be contradicted once the cover page has been flipped over and the rest of the magazine's contents are revealed. On the cover we see a scruffy, rugged looking Brad Pitt looking like he has just returned from his trip to Africa with Angelina Jolie but a further look into the magazine suggests differently. The insides of the magazine portray the more clean cut, well dressed man as described earlier on, although they do, however, show hints of or full out five o'clock shadows.

So, does that mean that our idea of masculinity actually combines a mix of the two? Does being masculine mean looking rugged while posing for a cameraman in an expensive looking suit appearing as if he has just returned from a tiring excursion to Africa all the while keeping his hair neatly combed and lusciously shiny? It seems as if men want to have their cake and eat it too. Men want to be men and women at the same time. But what does being a woman mean then? Men should be able to dress nicely and brush their hair without being accused of acting effeminate but unfortunately that is not the day and age we live in and sexism has not progressed as far as that yet.One wonders if men are just gorging themselves with vanity for the purpose of treating themselves nicely or to attract the hot babe featured on page 179 with half her butt crack sticking out of her tunic sweater. G.Q. and Esquire seem to do a lot of dressing up with their male models but they do as much dressing down as possible with the females. If being male means you have to dress up all the time then that would mean that being female means you have to dress down all the time. Unfortunately, while flipping through these magazines I found it difficult to locate a single woman wearing a reasonable amount of clothing. They seem to fulfill the eye candy wants and needs of their male readers very substantially though and this would be indicative of a characteristic that only manly men could possess ogling over every nook and cranny of the female anatomy at any given opportunity. Being masculine in 2006 means
being attracted to women and that is why homosexual males are depicted as being overtly flamboyant and feminine, hardly masculine at all. If a magazine doesn't contain women who are nude or on the verge of being nude then most likely, men won't buy it.

Some things never change but gone are the days where real men would sit around on Sundays watching football with a can of beer wrapped inside their hands. Now their tastes have matured to vodka, or so are the hopes of the advertisers who slapped advertisements for vodka in these publications. Instead of a classic beer, men of G.Q. and Esquire are now quenching their thirsts with a nice cold up of vodka. But whether these men are cuddling up to their football games, drinking their vodka wearing a suit or not is unclear.

What is clear, though, is that men these days just want to look good even if they are heterosexual. With cover boys like Brad Pitt and Josh Hartnett it's no wonder that these men are feeling the pressure to look beautiful and it's only fair since women have been comparing themselves to cover girls for centuries now. As Brad Pitt once so boldly stated, "I'm one of those people you hate because of genetics. It's the truth (imdb.com)". So recently it seems as if the roles are being reversed. Men are now wearing "girl pants" and girls are now wearing "boy cut jeans". It seems that women are finally being given a break and men are now the ones who must primp themselves into a tizzy for us. Thanks G.Q. and Esquire.

But while magazines such as G.Q. and Esquire put beautiful women on display throughout their layouts, Men's Health puts up a good amount of well toned, clean- shaven men on display throughout its layouts. So while one type of magazine features the ideal women, the other features the ideal man who is probably the only one who could possibly obtain the ideal women. Interestingly, Men's Health made number forty-two on the "Top Consumer Magazines 2005" list with FHM trailing way behind at number seventy-one and G.Q. and Esquire not even making the list. So one might assume that men are more concerned about obtaining this ideal woman rather than just staring at inanimate pictures of her in a glossy spread. It seems as if men don't just want the fantasy anymore, they want the real thing and Men's Health is right there, willing and waiting, to help out in this daunting task. From articles entitled "Do You Make A Good Impression?" to "Win Over Her Friends" to "Take Her Outdoors", Men's Health seems to have all aspects of winning over your favorite pin up girl down pat.

Also, while G.Q. and Esquire's cover shots feature such hot actors as Brad Pitt and Josh Hartnett, both scruffy looking, mysterious men, Men's Health proudly features Dane Cook on its cover, a highly distinguished comedian with not a hint of facial hair, a man who could not only win over a girl with his good looks but also knock her out with his great sense of humor. So rather than featuring celebrities who confuse yet intrigue the public with their smug looking facial expressions and fascinate us with the roles they hide behind on screen, men who seem so unattainable, Men's Health decided to feature a man, a normal, approachable looking man, who is a celebrity, but not as big a celebrity, and one you feel as if you can relate to, a man who appeals to most women for reasons other than looks.

This also brings up another role reversal that has taken place in recent years. In Emily Prager's writing, Our Barbies, Ourselves, she states, Her dolls' boyfriends were figments of the imagine, figments with large portfolios and three-piece suits and presidential aspirations, figments who could keep dolly in the style to which little girls of the fifties were programmed to be accustomed, a style that spasmed with the sixties and the appearance of Barbie (Prager 771).
While is used to be the girl dreaming about the perfect man in the perfect suit, it is now the perfect man in the perfect suit who fantasizes about the ideal woman.

In conclusion, while G.Q. and Esquire feature scruffy looking men and hot looking women, Men's Health features hot looking men who could score hot looking women and this just might be why Men's Health is a better seller because nobody wants to settle for a fantasy when they can have the real thing. Men want to be able to actually run their fingers through her hair, not just stare at it on a one-dimensional page. Men's Health is like the answer to the prayers of any man who desires something great. Not only do they want a hot body, once they achieve this level of fitness they want to go out and use it to land a date. They want to impress, not undress with their eyes. So with that said, while women are thanking G.Q. and Esquire for taking the ease off of them, men should be thanking Men's Health for laying the pressure on and allowing them to realize their dreams.